Sunday, August 18, 2002

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A few thousand black demonstrators rallied on the Mall in Washington on Saturday to demand that the U.S. government pay blacks reparations for slavery and decades of discrimination.

"I want to go up to the closest white person and say, 'You can't understand this, it's a black thing,' and then slap him, just for my mental health," Charles Barron, a member of the New York City Council, told the crowd.

The demonstrators, numbering about 2,000 to 3,000, came from all parts of the United States, many traveling by bus from as far away as Texas. With the U.S. Capitol in the background, they chanted "Black power! Reparations!" and "Start the Revolution!"

"Apologize White America," said a sign carried by one demonstrator.

Barron, a self-proclaimed "elected revolutionary," said if the government did not act swiftly he personally would storm the Treasury Department and take the money for reparations.